tance with His doctrines, a fellow-feeling with His sympathies, and assimilation to His character? If so, gratefully adore the everlasting Father for thus giving you to Christ. He made you feel your need and stimulated you to apply. Whereabouts are you in relation to Christ? Have you not yet come to Him, but merely inclined to do so, and are about making the effort? Cherish, I entreat you, the impulse which inclines you Christ-ward, yield to every feeling flowing in that direction ;-for it is the gift of the Father. Still again, Whereabouts are you in relation to Christ? This of all questions is the most vital and momentous; and it must be reiterated, re-impressed, re-enforced. Are you far away from Christ, and are you making no effort to approach Him? Your condition is a terribly sad one. Awake, I entreat you to a Do you feel

sense of the appalling position you occupy. any sense of your sin, any moral misgivings, any reproaches of conscience, any craving after a something you have never yet tasted? If so the Father is still working with you, seeking to give you to Christ. The work of His Spirit, by providencies and gospel ministries, is to give human souls to His ever-blessed Son. Take heed that you "resist not the Spirit." For He has said, “My spirit shall not always strive with men."

The Genius of the Gospel

ABLE expositions of the Gospel, describing the manners, customs, and localities, alluded to by the inspired writers; also interpreting their words, and harmonizing their formal discrepancies, are, happily, not wanting amongst us. But the eduction of its WIDEST truths and highest suggestions is still a felt desideratum. To some attempt at the work we devote these pages. We gratefully avail ourselves of all exegetical helps within our reach; but to occupy our limited space with any lengthened archæological, geographic, or philological remarks, would be to miss our aim; which is not to make bare the mechanical process of scriptural study, but to reveal its spiritual results.

SECTION SEVENTY-FOURTH :-Matt. xxii. 15-22.

"Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true,

and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him Cesar's. Then saith he unto them, render therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.”

SUBJECT:

-The Question of the Pharisees and Herodians concerning the Tribute Money.

WE have recently* had our attention directed to an attempt of "the chief priests and elders" to entrap Christ by a question, touching the authority of John as a teacher. We have in this chapter three other attempts to entrap him by questions made by the leading classes of Jewish Society-Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees and Lawyers. The one question, that in the passage under review, is of a political character, referring to the claims of Cæsar; the other, that of the Sadducees is of a social character, referring to the marriage relationships in the resurrection; and another, the question of the "lawyer," of a more directly religious character, referring to the chief obligation of humanity, "the great commandment." We shall have to examine each of these questions in turn, and shall begin with the first. The ecclesiastical authorities of Judea, having failed to entrap Jesus, by demanding the authority by which He did His wonderful works, especially as seen in His expurgation of the Temple, and being incensed in consequence of the parable spoken against them, namely "A certain man planted a vineyard," &c.,held a council against Him, and associating with themselves the Herodians, sent an embassy to our Lord with the express but covert design of ensnaring Him in His speech, that thus they might compass His destruction.

• See Homilist Vol. x. p. 231. "Intellect under the reign of wickedness."

I. HERE WE HAVE WICKED MEN, THOUGH MUTUAL ENEMIES, UNITED IN A WICKED PURPOSE. "Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk, And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians."

First: Mark the mutually hostile parties. "Pharisees and Herodians." It is probable that the Herodians were a political party, friends to the Roman authority, desirous to uphold the dominion of the Cæsars over Judea, and favorable to the adoption of Gentile manners and customs. They would therefore be directly opposed to the sympathy and aim of the Pharisees, who were Jews to the very letter and form of the Hebrew commonwealth; who looked with contempt on all foreigners, and struggled against the Roman yoke as a stigma upon their national character.

Secondly: Mark the common purpose which united these hostile parties. "They took counsel how they might entangle (Taxedetowo) him in his talk." The only time in which this word is used in the New Testament is here, and it signifies "ensnare; "-having a reference to the ensnaring of birds in a net. The word "his" which is supplied by our translators would be better omitted. Instead of " entangle him in his talk," read "ensnare him in talk;"—their talk as well as His. Their object undoubtedly was by their conversation to wrest from Him some expression that would form the strong basis of a legal charge against His life. They were "spies sent forth to feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, so that they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor."

Now the point on which we wish to fasten special attention here is, that men mutually hostile are brought into concert by a malignant purpose. So thoroughly did they agree in their desire to bring Christ's life and influence to an end, that all private and public animosities were buried in their endeavor to reach the common result. The Herodians might have hated the Pharisees, the Pharisees might have

loathed the Herodians; but both hated and loathed Jesus of Nazareth so much more than each other, that they are now brought into earnest co-operation. Evil has a power to

some extent to bring hostile souls together, Pilate and Herod were "made friends together" in the perpetration of the darkest crime that stains the wicked history of this wicked world. The devil yokes souls together and makes them drag his chariot, in whose breasts flame the fires of a mutual hate. Although from the immutable laws of moral mind there must be a mutual recoil of soul where there is a mutual depravity, still there is much mechanical union amongst evil men in this corrupt world. Greed for a common gain, lust for a common pleasure, love for a common idol, vengeance towards a common foe, are the bands by which the prince of darkness holds the various sections of this world together in something like mechanical order. Ah! not this world only, but in every province of his dark domain,

"Devil with devil damned firm concord holds."

II. HERE WE HAVE WICKED MEN COMPLIMENTING CHRIST IN THEIR PURSUIT OF A WICKED PURPOSE. "Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men."

First: Here is a just eulogium. This may be regarded as an exquisite epitome of our Saviour's character. Every word is expressive of truth. "We know that thou art true." He was true;-"THE TRUTH. "Thou teachest the way of God in truth." He did teach the way of God in truth. "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten son of the Father, he hath declared him." "He is the brightness of the Father's glory," &c. "Neither carest thou for any man." Though He cared for the souls of all, He cared nothing for the flatteries or the frowns, the commendations or the condemnations, of any. He confronted the hostilities of His age; like the sun, He moved calmly

and majestically in His orbit, while the clouds of conflicting sentiment battled around, and the black ocean of depravity roared and raged beneath. "Thou regardest not the person

of men." True, He was "no respecter of persons." He had no caste feeling,- -no social favoritism. He was the sympathizer with all sufferers, the denouncer of all wrong doers, the friend of all who worshipped the common Father in spirit and in truth. We can scarcely conceive of a tribute more truthful in substance, and more terse and compendious in expression, than this. We can almost imagine that in the "counsel" which they took together, they were some time formulating this eulogy. One would suggest one expression, one another; and after considerable discussion on successive amendments, out came this formula of their joint wisdom. We honor their intellects in this ;-would that their hearts had been as true as their judgments!

Secondly: Here we have a just eulogium wickedly rendered. Whilst their testimony is undoubtedly just to Christ, we must suppose it was true also to their own convictions, if they had any. For we can scarcely imagine that men of common observation and conscience, living for three years in the neighborhood where this Jesus taught his doctrines of sublime wisdom and purity, wrought His miracles of stupendous power and love, and lived His life of unclouded rectitude and goodness, could have had any conviction concerning Him inconsistent with this testimony. Still, though the tribute was true in itself, and true, perhaps, to their own convictions, it was wickedly rendered. They had no heart appreciation of the character they delineated. The language was not the outburst of adoring souls. There is no heart in it; it means nothing but cunning. They intended it to appeal to a something in Christ which He had not-vanity. Though what they said was true,—for the matter of it; there was nothing but flattery and treachery in the intention of it. They called Him Master when they were contriving to treat Him as the worst of malefactors. They pretended respect for Him when they intended mischief against Him.